KUALA LUMPUR – The hiring of more doctors and other medical staff to address understaffing in hospitals should not be shouldered by the Health Ministry alone, said its minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa (Sekijang-PH).
“The issue of staffing should not solely be the responsibility of the Health Ministry, but it should also be discussed with other agencies such as the Public Service Department and Finance Ministry,” she told the Dewan Rakyat, today.
“If possible, we (the Health Ministry) would want to take in all staff and doctors, but if the position and funds are unavailable, then we cannot exercise this aspiration,” she added, asking for the government’s consideration on the issue.
Zaliha said this in response to a supplementary question by Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH) who asked about the ministry’s stance to overcome understaffing in the medical industry, which he claimed is the root of overcrowding in hospitals.
Nonetheless, Zaliha ensured that she will be meeting with different frontliners to discuss the struggles faced by the hospitals they work in, as she found that different hospitals are facing different issues.
In the meantime, the health minister proposed seven initiatives to overcome hospital overcrowding which include: auditing existing initiatives, outsourcing with government agencies and the private sector, implementing the use of bed management units, and treating non-emergency cases in health clinics – as she said about 70% of cases treated in the emergency department are often non-critical.
The Lean Healthcare initiative has also been improved to minimise irrelevant activities and focus on reducing waiting times to see doctors and get beds for warded patients, which Zaliha said has shown its effectiveness.
This follows its implementation in Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital’s emergency department which reduced patient waiting time from 192 minutes to 88 minutes on average, while its medical ward had a patient discharge time reduction from 360 minutes to 180 minutes.
Zaliha had made efforts to control overcrowding in hospitals by drawing up plans and looking at relevant data since December. – The Vibes, February 15, 2023
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